Wichita eagle., 1887-07-17
CHINESE MERCHANTS.
THE MoNGoLIANs BRANCHING OUT
AS eRocERS, ETC.
Chinese Prosperity as Instanced by the
Growth of Provision Stores in Mott
Street-Artic1es Kept for Sale.Sweet.
meats, Liquors.

Growth OF PROVISION Stores in Mott
street-ArticIes Kept for Sale.Sweet.
meats, Liquors.
Ever since the Americans native born
blue blooded) have given up the grocery
| business and left it almost entirely tn
their Irish and German brethren. the
Chinese have been quietly starting gro
Gerry stores ON their own account. As a
matter of compliment they say, 'sHad the
Americans been properly attending to
their own business, the Cinnamon would
not have started so many oriental 'Del-
icatessens' in this city," as they think the
pure blooded American is a model of
business integrity if nothing else.
The present great Chinese prosperity in
the provision line in New York started
about six years ago. There were then
but two stores, those of Wa Kee and
Kwong Hing Lung. There ara now
thirty-three, mostly on Mott street. ThCy
are still on the increase almost monthly.
Their progress is only impeded by the
present want of suitable premises in which
to open them. Already almost all of Mott
street, from Pell street to Chatham square,
has been taken up by Chinese merchants;
even the large tenement houses are rap
idly being converted into Chinese head
quarters. Nearly quarter of China
town is now bought and paid for by the
CeleStialS
CHINF,SE BUSINESS CAPACITY
1t may be interesting to many readers
to get an idea OF the extent of the Chinese
business capacity of New York and what
they deal in mostly. Let us first glance
Joi, 10
themselves. The following are the prin-
cipal articles of trade in the Chinese gro
ceries: Dried fowls, smoked and sailed
Chinese pork, sausages, ham, dried oys-
tiers, smoked oysters, dried and smoked
CLANS, shad dried, smoked and canned in
oil, and other fishes cured in lik, manner,
shrimps and Holsters dried, bean curCile
in all varieties, like the Italian macaroni;
Chinese cabbage, dried, and also in bar
rels, cured in vinegar. This is really de-
Gcious, and beats the ss,Nrkraut of Ger
man make in every respect Bamboo
shoots in all varieties, lily flowers dried,
sea weeds, fungus, mushrooms, sharks
fins. These are so cured that they re-
semble dried starch. When cooked with
pork they taste like a delicately cooked
tripe. Beche de mer Ia species of sea
worm), greatly valued as food tonic by
all orientals. Bears paws dried sell at
about $12 per pound retail; also as a tonic
bears gall as high as $40 per pound
Chinese yams In all grades. One called
the WOO toe is really the finest; it is a
species not at all known here but in taste
is much finer than the ordinary potato; it
has a very tough but thin skin. When
growing it has leaves resembling our
water lilies. Just about this time of the
year the Chinese gardeners of New York
are furnishing their countrymen with
fresh grown Chinese vegetables, which
are rather poor in quality, probably owing
to the peculiar soil here. The koo qua, or
bitter melon, is a most favorite dish
among the New York Cinnamon just now,
and it is eaten like the continental pump
kinS by the Yankees of New England.
Koo qua is grown somewhere on Long
Island and is sold at twenty-five cents o
pound fresh.
PUMPKINS AND BIRDS NESTS.
But the Chinese pumpkins grown here
are mere limitations of what they are in
their own native soil. Birds nests are
also extensively sold among the well to
do class of our Monaghan citizens. They
are sold al the way from SO to $50 per
pound, according to quality. The best
are plucked off from the rocks when the
busy little swallows have just finished in
building their tender but brilliant little
homes with the finest part of delicate
little shellfish that abounds in the south
ern seas But the most curious Of all the
articles of trade among the Chinese gro
ceries are the dried ducks feet. Every
one Of these being cut off about the knee
joints of the ducks, are cleansed, skinned
and bOned, the web part then filled with
the liver of the duck and the whole care
fully tied up with one of the cleanseG en-
trails. These are sold at the groceries at
about ten cents foot. Fifteen of these
feet constitute full dish IN first class
Chinese restaurant, for which they charge
50 80. They are cooked with bamboo
shoots and mushrooms and pickles They
really form one of the best dishes in the
Chinese bill of fare. The line of Chinese
sweetmeats is varied and fine, consisting
of nearly every known and unknown frua
of the world.
There are four principal Chinese liquors
sold in the stores. An ordinary glass of
a strong distilled liquor called the ''ung
ka Pc" or the five grained liquor"
NOuil pEDDdDIS SenU au OTuIudiN lIISU-
man to the other side of Jordan, but John
Chinaman could drink it by the bowlful
day in and day out, and yet they do not
seem TO burn up all the shirts they iron.
Wong Chin Foo in New York World.
DIR. Martlneau, French PHYSICIAN.
claims that carbonate of hthia and ar.
SENATE of soda in aerated water, used TO
the exclusion Of other drinks, is an almost
lntalHble cure for diabetes.
a keminiscsnce of Lincoln.
A correspondent residing in Elgin, Ills,
speaking Of a family of children named
Newhall. who thirty-ive years ago gave
concerts in Illinois, says: 'The troupe
Travelled for years, and once, when at Dan
vile, Ills, Mr.. Lincoln, then stumping the
state. heard them. and at the hotel offered as
his part of the after entertainment to recits
the poem with which his name is 50 closely
essociated-'Oh, Why Should the Spirit Of
Mortal be Proudf He then sat down and
wrote out the poem and gave it to Mrs.
Hillis-then Miss Lois Newhall This manu-
script has been precious keepsake through
all the years sinca A short time ago the
manuscript passed into the hands of Chicago
gentleman, who paid cheerfully large
sum Of money for it.'-Chicago News.
A Dogs Sense OF Smell.